Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
One Year Later
“Baby, there’s a delivery at the door for you.”
Imogen pulled the pie out of the oven—because her man loved pie—and slipped off the oven mitts.
“Coming, love.” Imogen smoothed down the skirt of her dress—she was still waiting for him to discover she wasn’t wearing panties underneath it—and rushed to the door.
Nic was signing for an envelope.
“What’s that?”
The man dressed in all brown scanned it and shrugged. “I don’t get paid to know that.” He looked at his tablet. “Have a good day, Mr. and Mrs. St. Clair.”
Imogen still beamed anytime someone called her that. Nine months hadn’t worn the shine off it at all.
“You too, man.” Her husband shut the door and handed the envelope to Imogen.
“What do you think it is?”
She’d never gone back to her job after she met Nic, so it had nothing to do with work.
She’d given her notice, and they hadn’t even tried to get her to stay.
These days, she was a housewife who had perfected her roast beef and pecan pie and spent the rest of her time posing nude for her husband while he perfected his techniques on her.
It was a good life. A great life. A life beyond Imogen’s wildest dreams. Jury had gone off on her own adventure, circumnavigating the globe with Leo. As far as she knew, they weren’t married. But who knew what could happen with those two?
She inhaled as the idea hit her. “Maybe it’s a wedding invite! Maybe Jury and Leo are tying the knot!”
“Are you going to open it and see?”
She zipped the envelope open and peered inside. It held a letter-sized envelope. Okay, so maybe not a wedding invitation. She pulled it out. It was blank on the front. She set the carrier envelope on a side table and slid her finger along the flap to open it.
“What in the world?”
She pulled out two tickets. Plane tickets. To Vanuatu.
“They must be getting married! Look!” She held out the tickets to Nic. “One for each of us. I knew she’d do this. My money was on Fiji. Where the heck is Vanuatu anyway?”
“Near Australia.”
“Makes total sense.” Imogen jumped into Nic’s arms and wrapped her legs around his waist.
His big hands came under her dress to cup her ass and lift her higher. And then he stilled. His hazel gaze turned serious. “You’re not wearing any panties.”
She shook her head with a grin.
“And you answered the door like this.”
“Technically, you answered the door.”
His fingertips slid lower to grip her thighs and nudge between her legs.
“Technically, my ass.”
“I’ve been waiting for you to notice for hours.”
He groaned as his touch reached her heat. Imogen shivered.
“God, I love you,” he said as he took her lips.
“And I love you.”
“I’m taking you to bed.”
“Why waste the trip? There’s a perfectly good counter right here.”
An hour later, wet from the shower and her hair wrapped in a towel, Imogen texted Jury.
IMOGEN
Congratulations! We will be there. Thanks for the tickets!
She had no idea what time or day it was where Jury and Leo were, but she knew she’d hear from her sister eventually.
“Are we waiting for pie? Because I can cut you a slice now,” she called toward the stairway.
“Why wait, baby?”
Imogen smiled and opened the drawer for the pie server.
After she sliced two pieces and put them on dainty china plates that had been Nic’s grandmother’s, she opened another drawer for two silver dessert forks.
She loved this house. She loved being surrounded by beauty …
which included her husband as he came down the stairs, shirtless, wearing only his favorite pair of low-slung camo shorts.
His tattooed hand rubbed over his abs. “Pie sounds perfect. Thank you. You’re the best. I’m starving after all that.”
She slid his piece across the kitchen island with a grin, and he wasted no time diving in.
“Mmm … divine.” Nic chewed and then added, “The day you decided to learn to bake and be my muse … best day of my life.”
“Not our wedding day?” she asked as she picked up her fork.
He shook his head. “That was the most memorable. But it was always coming once you decided to stay with me and be my girl for real.”
Imogen took a bite of the pie. It is good.
“I think I get all the benefits here. Namely you. And the house isn’t bad either. Oh, and I do like your car.”
“Is that all?”
“Spending days on end naked in your studio … and what always happens … also fabulous.”
He grinned. “You stayed for the great sex. It’s okay. You can admit it.”
Imogen laughed. “That didn’t hurt either. Speaking of which …” She picked up the plane tickets, this time scanning for the date. “About time Leo put a ring on it.”
“Interesting subject change.”
“This is for next week. We leave in three days.” Imogen lifted her gaze to Nic’s. “Seriously.”
He took the ticket she held out to him. “I guess I’m not surprised. But damn. That’s, like, halfway around the world.”
“I guess I’d better pack.”
He put down the ticket. “Finish your pie. Then … if you’re up for it, I think we should have another conversation about those panties you weren’t wearing at the door.”
Imogen’s body went liquid. Nope, the great sex definitely doesn’t hurt either.